Beverage Container Recycling

Welcome to California's Beverage Container Recycling Program. Whether you’re
a consumer who wants to redeem your empty bottles and cans for cash, a recycling
center operator who needs the latest industry updates, or anyone else with an
interest in beverage container recycling, you’ll find the information you need
on these pages.

CalRecycle, officially known as the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery, administers the California Beverage
Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. Beverage
containers covered under the act are subject to California
Redemption Value (CRV), which is 5 cents for containers less
than 24 ounces, 10 cents for containers 24 ounces or larger.
Thanks to the CRV cash incentive, more than 300 billion aluminum,
glass, and plastic beverage containers have been recycled since
the program began in 1987.

Californians Recycle

California Redemption ValueConsumers pay California
Redemption Value (CRV) when they purchase beverages from a retailer, and receive
CRV refunds when they redeem the containers at a recycling center.
Most beverages packaged in aluminum, glass,
plastic and bi-metal containers are eligible for CRV. Notable exceptions are
milk, wine and distilled spirits, which are not included in the CRV program. CRV
is 5 cents for each beverage container less than 24 ounces and 10 cents for each
container 24 ounces or greater.

Californians Recycle
Californians bought more than 23 billion carbonated and noncarbonated
CRV-eligible drinks in aluminum, glass, plastic, and bi-metal containers in
2015. More than 18.6 billion of those containers were recycled, saving natural
resources, conserving energy, extending the life of our landfills, and helping
to reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gases.

Important Consumer Refund Info!

You can get your beverage container recycling refunds on a per-container basis instead of by weight.

By law, you can bring up to 50 aluminum, 50 glass, 50 plastic, and 50 bi-metal California Redemption Value (CRV) containers in a single visit and request to be paid by count. You will be paid the full CRV redemption of 5 cents or 10 cents on each container. Inform the site attendant of your load content and how you would like to receive payment before you hand over your load.

Any consumer who has been denied this right by a recycling center can
file a complaint via email or by calling 1-800-RECYCLE.

If recycling more than 50 containers of any one material type, the decision to pay by count or weight is determined by the recycling center operator. Make sure your containers are whole and free of contaminants such as dirt, excessive liquid or other foreign substances. If you are being paid by weight, make sure the load contains only eligible CRV beverage containers.

Daily load limits of empty CRV beverage containers are 100 pounds each for aluminum and plastic, and 1,000 pounds for glass. If the load includes containers not eligible for CRV, the recycling center must either reject the load or pay only scrap value.

To learn which beverages are covered by CRV, read either
Beverages Subject to California Refund Value (CRV) (English
| Spanish) or CRV Only--It's the Law (English |
Spanish).